


Encounters

by SavannahsDrabbles



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Backstory, Fluff, Gen, TMNT, Turtle Tots (TMNT), rottmnt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22806328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SavannahsDrabbles/pseuds/SavannahsDrabbles
Summary: “Okay, my sons.  It is time,”Despite his hushed tone, Splinter’s voice swelled with importance as he turned to face his charges. The maroon hoodie he had scrounged up fanned around him almost comically as he moved, speaking to the fact that it was clearly designed with someone much taller than he in mind. Even so, there was still an air of confidence and gravitas to his manner – this was not the first time that he had stood before an audience, nor, if he had anything to say about it, would it be his last. “As you know, this is an important mission. I am aware that you have been through this before, but it still remains pertinent that you remember the rules. Recite them for me, please.”
Comments: 38
Kudos: 115





	1. Chapter 1

“Okay, my sons. It is time,”

Despite his hushed tone, Splinter’s voice swelled with importance as he turned to face his charges. The maroon hoodie he had scrounged up fanned around him almost comically as he moved, speaking to the fact that it was clearly designed with someone much taller than he in mind. Even so, there was still an air of confidence and gravitas to his manner – this was not the first time that he had stood before an audience, nor, if he had anything to say about it, would it be his last. “As you know, this is an important mission. I am aware that you have been through this before, but it still remains pertinent that you remember the rules. Recite them for me, please.”

Three of the four hooded figures before him immediately straightened to attention, their voices also hushed but still quivering with excitement.

“Pay attention!”

“Stay close!”

“No talking!”

…

The last response, rather than being delivered with confidence, was replaced with silence punctuated by the steady _drip drip drip_ of a leaky pipe above them and the droning rumble of cars in the distance. Tiny rivulets of water streamed from a crack in the metal tube directly over their heads, running together and condensing into a single droplet that swelled and drooped under its own weight before silently dropping into a puddle of its brethren at their feet.

The pause dragged on for a few more seconds, and Splinter couldn’t help but roll his eyes upwards in a silent plea for patience as he sighed. “Michelangelo?”

“Oh!” The last and smallest figure in line immediately stood up straight, his focus snapping away from the growing puddle and turning towards his father. “Stick to the shadows!” The young turtle scrunched up his snout and leapt forward, landing on one foot and raising his arms into the air as an attempt at an action pose. “Like ninjas – HA!”

The gesture might have been threatening, were it not coming from an eight year old in an orange hoodie. However, it definitely sufficed to distract those around him. The three other turtles giggled, their concentration broken as they immediately began hopping around and striking their own grand poses. “Yeah – ninjas! Like Lou Jitsu!”

Splinter blinked slowly, a small smile teasing at his lips despite himself. “Right… like ninjas. If ninjas were loud and unfocused.”

That caught their attention. All four turtles immediately fumbled to a stop and forced serious expressions onto their round faces. “Sorry, Dad.”

“Hm.” The rat hummed, his gaze moving over the boys one last time before nodding. “Alright, let us go.”

***

Even with his years of training, Splinter still couldn’t help but be impressed by the relative ease with which he was able to lift manhole covers. Perhaps there were a few advantages to this new form - however, now was not the time for him to crow over his abilities.

Tonight was a gathering night.

Still holding the cover a few inches above him, Splinter peered around the alleyway. His ears rotated atop his head, listening for any sign of danger before he finally pushed himself up and out of the pipe. Once he was on solid ground, the rat sniffed the air and nodded slowly. This would be a good spot for the night.

Green dumpsters lined the gap between Eastman’s Donuts and Laird Apartments, each giving off a variety of odors that ranged in levels of pleasantness. The alleyway he’d chosen tonight was one they frequented due to its abundance of cover and wide variety of resources. He always made sure to schedule their gathering nights shortly after garbage day, so that any food placed in the bins would still be relatively fresh and untouched by whatever else was dumped in with it. Years of gatherings told him that the dumpsters on the opposite side of either building tended to be less fruitful, but both alleyways held Salvation Army drop boxes that sometimes held clothing or other small items that could be repurposed for their needs.

“You may come out, boys. Silently.”

To their credit, his sons were decent at following commands when needed. One at a time, the four boys peeped their heads out of the drain and then scrambled over the edge.

Raphael led the way, his shell bumping against either side of the pipe as he pulled himself through. Even at eight years old, his biggest son stood slightly taller than his father and was showing signs of growing every day. Splinter was already dreading the day that they would have to change gathering routes in order to find manholes covers more accommodating of his size – that, or he would have to risk leaving his tenderhearted son alone at the lair during missions. The latter idea already hurt to think of.

Donatello and Leonardo were next, somehow managing to hold a silent shoving match as they ascended the ladder and attempted to pull themselves out of the ground. His purple son eventually emerged victorious, scrambling to his feet a few seconds ahead of his brother and immediately ducking behind Raph to smile smugly. Leo stuck his tongue out in protest and opened his mouth as if to say something, only to catch a warning glance from his father and snap it shut once more.

Michelangelo was the last one out of the sewer, clambering up the ladder with ease and bouncing excitedly next to his brothers as Splinter pushed the grate back into place. When he turned back around, the rat nodded in approval at the way the other boys had closed rank around their brother, making an unspoken shield. Despite the fact that the turtles were all the same age – or at least, had mutated on the same day – Mikey remained the smallest of the turtles and therefore held the honorary title of baby brother. While he hoped the boy wouldn’t one day grow to be resentful of the fact, Splinter was grateful to have three extra sets of eyes trained on the actions of his most distractible son.

Speaking of eyes – Splinter turned towards the mouth of the alley and took several steps forward. The four boys stumbled after him, small hands brushing his tail and the edge of his hoodie as a guide. His vision nowadays was not what it used to be – a trait he could only assume was a result of his transformation – so he had come to rely heavily on scent and color when moving about. Nevertheless, his ability to navigate in the dark remained the strongest of the small band of creatures he now called family.

Once he was completely satisfied that they would not be seen, Splinter reached into the pocket of his jacket and withdrew a small bundle of meshy fabric. After a moment of unwinding, he distributed a small reusable bag to each of his sons and jerked his head at the bins. “Red, I will need you to hold a bag for me while I look in the larger bins.” Raphael swelled with pride, and Splinter then turned to his three smaller sons. “You three, go ahead and start gathering. Remember to not eat anything you find until I have had a chance to look it over.”

The boys all nodded obediently as they set about their tasks.

***

“Check this out!” Leo whispered excitedly, drawing his brothers’ attention from their searching. Their scavenging through the cardboard boxes at the edge of the alley hadn’t been particularly fruitful so far – only a few unopened fortune cookies from someone’s takeout and a half-crushed box of crackers. Mikey could feel his stomach grumbling in protest as he rocked backwards on his knees and squinted in the direction of Leo’s voice.

“What’s’it? Something good?”

“Yeah – a remote! See?” The blue-clad turtle shuffled closer on his knees and held out a small rectangular object in his hand. “And it still has batteries in it – I think I can use the recharger we found last time to juice them back up!”

“Oh, cool!” Donnie leaned forward until his head almost bumped into Mikey’s, causing the box turtle to scooch back to allow him a better vantage. “I needed some batteries for my flashlight!”

He reached for the remote expectantly, only for Leo to hurriedly stuff the item into his tote bag and shuffle away. “No way – finder’s keeper’s!”

The soft shelled turtle scowled and reached out again. “Dad said finder’s keeper’s is only for toys and stuff – we have to share tools!”

“Well, then this is my toy.”

“A remote isn’t a – “

“Guyssss I’m hungryyyy. Let’s just go back to looking!”

“ _Boys!”_

The three turtles’ mouths snapped shut, eyes flickering towards the area where Splinter and Raph were and then back towards each other. They waited for a moment, half-expecting to be berated for being too loud, and then heaved identical sighs when no lecturing came.

“Really guys, I’m hungry,” Mikey whispered as he dramatically dropped his head onto Leo’s shoulder. “My tumbus wants food.”

The red-eared slider patted his youngest brother’s head sympathetically, and then gently pushed him off. “Me too. Let’s keep looking. Maybe we can find something good, like… like pizza!”

Mikey could feel liquid immediately rushing to his mouth at the thought of pizza. “Mmm, yeah! A whole entire pizza!”

“As if someone would throw out a whole pizza,” Donnie scoffed as he turned back towards his pile and started searching again. “It’s too expensive.”

Leo rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah? And what do you know about money?”

“More than you.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yuh-huh.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yuh-huh.”

And with that they were off again, attention set on each other as they continued to whisper-argue. Mikey sighed. Sometimes he swore those two were twins, what with how much they bickered with each other. Dad had said it was impossible due to their difference in species, but that didn’t stop Mikey from imagining his middle two brothers holding a shoving match even from within whatever egg they had hatched from.

Mmm… Eggs.

The small turtle shook his head as his stomach growled once more. Nope, can’t be thinking about food right now. Gotta keep searching. Gotta not think about yummy scrambled eggs or hot, tasty pizza with cheese that stretched off the crust whenever he bit into it. Can’t think about the intoxicating aroma of tomatoes and spices and mushrooms that was so good he could almost taste it -

Wait.

Mikey sniffed the air.

That smell wasn’t just in his imagination – he was actually smelling pizza!

Scrambling to his feet, Mikey closed his eyes in concentration and focused on the scent. He slowly turned on his heels, inhaling deeply and trying to zero in on the source of the wonderful aroma until he faced the direction it seemed to be coming from. When he finally opened his eyes, the turtle felt his heart drop.

The mouth of the alley loomed before him like a sideways set of open jaws, warning him not to step out onto the sidewalk lest they chomp down and never let him go. Dad had warned them never to venture past the alley’s boundaries, where they were cradled in shadows and safe from any wandering eyes that happened to turn in their direction. And yet the smell of pizza and other good things drifted from just around the corner like a siren’s song, calling him out into the open.

Surely it couldn’t hurt to just lean out and grab the food, then duck back to his family? Mikey could already imagine the proud look on his father’s face as he returned with a whole box of hot food – a rare delicacy in their family. Certainly he would forgive his son for going just a tinnyyyyy bit further than he was supposed to if it meant being able to feed everyone for the night, right?

Glancing back at his family to ensure that their attentions were elsewhere, Mikey stepped closer to the edge of the shadows and listened. He could hear young humans’ voices chattering and laughing in the distance, and the ground vibrated slightly as an occasional car rumbled down the next street over. Taking a deep breath, Mikey poked his head out of the alley and allowed the tip of his nose to be lit up by the towering street lights. The boy hesitated, half expecting to hear Donnie or one of his other family members hissing for him to come back, and then looked to his left.

A row of hedges lined the front of the apartment building they were next to, and served as one of the few natural sources of green on the heavily brown and red bricked street. Mikey could almost imagine the scent trails winding through the leaves of the bushes and down the alley on the opposite side of the building. Maybe he could just sneak through those bushes and around the corner without even stepping onto the sidewalk- so _technically_ he would still be staying in the shadows. Like a ninja.

Before he had a chance to change his mind, Mikey darted around the corner and cleared the small gap between the edge of the building and the first of the bushes in a single leap. The leaves closed around him like a protective cocoon as he ducked into the foliage, shielding him from the street lamps’ lights and serving as the perfect tunnel to crawl through on hands and knees towards the smell. He hesitated for a moment when he reached a slab of concrete that created a gap in the foliage – the front porch that served as the building’s entrance. This opening as a bit more nerve-wracking than the initial dive into the bushes had been, because there he had at least had the option of turning back.

Mikey glanced over his shoulder and back through the bushes, listening. Splinter had still made no sign of noticing that his youngest was missing. He guessed it was now or never.

The young turtle scrambled forward, fighting the urge to yelp as the front porch light fully illuminated his body, and then threw himself the remaining few feet back into the cover of the bushes. His arms trembled with nerves as he collapsed onto his still aching stomach, and he lay motionless for a moment until he could catch his breath again. Ok, ok. Still safe. His knee stung a bit from where he’d apparently scraped it on the concrete, but other than that he was in one piece.

Better yet, the smell of pizza was almost overwhelming at this point.

Swallowing the drool that threatened to escape his mouth, Mikey pulled himself back onto his hands and knees and closed the distance between himself and where the edge of the bushes met the mouth of the next alleyway. He heaved a small sigh of relief as he could finally emerge from the bushes and dive into the dark alley – safety.

The small turtle’s legs shook like jelly beneath him as he plastered himself against a shadow drenched wall and tried to calm his frantically beating heart. It was odd to think that his family was just on the other side of this building, maybe three or four dozen yards away, and yet it felt as if he had just crawled a mile and was now utterly alone. Mikey shivered at the thought. Okay, so maybe this hadn’t been as great of an idea as he had initially thought. But it was all going to be over in just a second – all he needed to do was grab the pizza and then crawl back through the bushes. Problem solved!

Lifting his nose again, Mikey crept towards one of the closest bins – a large green dumpster with the lid propped up against the wall of the apartment. The smell of hot pizza was nearly overwhelming, and Mikey felt another shiver run through his body as he imagined biting into the cheesy goodness. Who in the world would throw away such an amazing thing?

But… how to get to it?

Raph and Splinter usually had to work together to get the rat high enough that he could lean over the edge of the bin and toss things out. And while Mikey was a good climber, he already knew he wouldn’t be able to scramble up the vertical metal wall without help.

Glancing around, Mikey’s eyes zeroed in on several cardboard boxes like the ones he and his brothers had been looking through in the other alley. Maybe if he stacked those together… yes, perfect!

With a smile of determination, the small turtle set to work creating a staircase along the side of the massive trashcan and then scrambled up to the top. It wasn’t the perfect height, but if he stood on his tiptoes from here he could peer over the edge of the bin.

“Whoa,” he whispered as he pulled himself up to the lip, “This thing is enormous!”

Sure enough, the trash can was about six feet long – nearly triple his height – and almost as tall. A few trash bags lined the bottom of the bin, the plastic on some drawn so tight that they threatened to burst and spill their contents into the rest of the garbage. Several brown glass bottles littered the top of the bags, clearly thrown in by a drunken passerby rather than bagged up safely. But in the center of it all, perched atop a particularly large bag of trash, was the pizza box.

Mikey couldn’t help but let out an excited giggle. Based on the smell and where it sat, someone had to have just thrown the box in a few minutes ago – how in the world had he gotten so lucky? Now he just had to reach it.

Using his arms, the turtle pulled himself up on to the edge of the trash can and balanced on his plastron as he leaned forward to reach. His right arm stretched out into the air above the bin, grasping for his prize while his kicking legs served as a counterbalance.

“Almost…. Come on…” Pursing his lips, Mikey waved his stubby arm in the direction of the box. Nope. Not working. He rocked sideways to switch arms and then extended the left one in a second attempt. His fingers brushed the tip of the cardboard, and Mikey felt a grin stretch across his face. “Almost… almost…”

Then, as if suddenly taunting him, the box slipped and slid out of his reach. Mikey yelped in frustration and lunged forward, fingers outstretched –

-only to find himself falling head over heels.

The child squawked in surprise as he tumbled forward, arms pinwheeling as he attempted to grab the edge of the can and keep himself from falling into the veritable abyss, but gravity was not on his side. The turtle fell heavily, arms barely coming up to shield his face as he dropped like a stone and faceplanted into several swollen black trash bags.

Immediately he went into panic mode, his arms flailing for purchase on the shifting floor. Mikey struggled to push himself up onto his elbows and looked around his new surroundings in fear. “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no,”

His heart pounded against his ribs as the turtle rolled onto his back and attempted to clamber to his feet, only to succeed in slipping and sliding on the slick plastic until something sharp bit into the bottom of his foot.

All goals of remaining quiet were forgotten as Mikey yelped and leapt backwards from the broken glass, his shell hitting the back of the bin and causing a loud, warping echo to rattle through the metal. Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, the lid wobbled on its hinges and slammed down, plunging the turtle into perfect darkness.

“HELP!”


	2. Chapter 2

“Phew- finally!” April O’Neil heaved a sigh as she pushed the door closed and slid to the floor, her head drooping with exhaustion. A pepperoni slipped from the bun on the top of her head, rolling down the front of her uniform and skittering to a stop at her feet. “That was the last of them.”

“Thank goodness,” Mrs. O’Neil called wearily from the living room. “Remind me to not host your girl scout meetings at the house ever again – or at least until Gabriella’s mom learns to control her child.”

“Will do.”

“Hey – grab me some more cleaner while you’re in there, please.”

“Okay,” The eleven year old sighed tiredly as she heaved herself back to her feet and reached for a bottle underneath the kitchen sink. She dug for a moment, shaking one bottle experimentally and peering at its label, tucked a roll of trash bagas under her arm, and then wandered into the mess of their living room. The usually neat, tidy room was almost unrecognizable beneath the layers of garbage and first aid materials that had been scattered across the floor. To a stranger, it might have looked like a party gone horribly wrong. To anyone who had been to a scout meeting before, this looked like a normal Tuesday night with twelve hyperactive young girls. Paper cups and plates were scattered on almost every flat surface, some still holding half eaten pieces of pizza or balancing haphazardly on the arms of chairs. Rolls of bandages and tubes of Neosporin were strewn amongst them, along with the printable instruction sheets that had been their guides for the evening. April held the bottle out in front of her. “Here ya go.”

Mrs. O’Neil was currently on her hands and knees in the center of the room, scrubbing at a red patch on the carpet. The older black woman smiled gratefully as she reached out to take the bottle, then dumped a liberal amount onto the rag she held in her other hand while making a _tsk_ sound under her breath. April knew that sound – it meant she would be hearing about the other girls’ lack of manners for the next week and a half. At least she’d gotten her first aid patch tonight – she might have to use it later when her mom’s head exploded.

“I swear, I think Anaya’s mom put ink or something into that batch of fruit punch – it’s refusing to come out of the carpet.”

“Sorry about that,” April pulled a trash bag from the roll she’d tucked under her arm and began dumping paper plates into it. “I think all of the sugar got Gabriella a bit crazy tonight – she’s not usually that clumsy.”

“Well in that case, you guys are getting carrot sticks for the next meeting.” Mrs. O’Neil huffed. “And water – at least that won’t stain my carpet.”

April hummed in agreement as she continued to fill the bag and then tied it shut. “I’m gonna go ahead and run this outside.”

“Okay, hon. Oh – and could you knock on Mrs. Meyer’s door and ask if she has any extra cleaner? I think we’re almost out of this one.”

“Sure thing!” The girl hefted the bag of trash onto her shoulder and then raised an eyebrow and giggled. “I’m taking out the trash – at night.”

"Was that a Spongebob reference?”

“… Maybe.”

A smile broke through her mom’s frustrated expression, making a warm glow run through April’s veins. The woman reached up to pat April’s hip, then shoved her lightly. “Alright, goofball. Hurry along – it’s already dark outside.”

“Yes ma’am!” the bespectacled girl hurried back into the kitchen, trash bag bouncing at her side, and grabbed her tennis shoes from the shoe bin. She was still in her girl scout uniform – tan shorts and a white t-shirt hidden beneath her green vest- but she decided it would be fine for a quick trash run. Her fanny pack bounced on her hip as she walked, keeping rhythm with the tails of the yellow bandana tied around her neck.

With a quick tug on the heels of her shoes to get them in place, April was off. The girl scampered out into the hallway and headed towards the stairwell, still mumbling Spongebob quotes under her breath. Taking the steps two at a time, she made it down to the bottom floor quickly and pushed open the back door that led to alleyway next to their building.

A single lightbulb flickered to life over her head as she leaned into the night air, then rapidly began flashing. April groaned as the bulb seemed to fight for life before finally blinking out. The maintenance workers at their building were bad enough about changing the lightbulbs inside - she guessed she shouldn’t be too surprised that they had neglected to keep up with the ones outside. Still, that made her mission feel a bit more intense.

Taking a deep breath and forcing a look of determination onto her face, April shoved the door with all of her might. The metal door swung outwards and crashed into the outside wall with a clang, but it did the job – light from the stairwell spilled out into the alley and created a direct path to the dumpster. With her sneakers squeaking on the linoleum, April darted out the door and cleared the concrete steps before her in a single bound. If she could just move fast enough, she should be able to make it back inside before the door -

Her goal was cut short, however, when the door suddenly swung back on its hinges and plunged the alley into darkness.

Fantastic.

April squinted at her surroundings and blinked until her eyes could adjust to the new lighting, then continued to walk in the direction of the dumpster she’d been heading towards. No big deal, just throw the bag in and then head right back the way she had come.

Then she heard it.

Pounding and whining were coming from within the dumpster, accompanied by the occasional yelp.

April jumped backwards in alarm and then hesitated, frowning. Her mom had complained about raccoons digging through the garbage before, knocking over the smaller trash cans and nearly giving passerby heart attacks in the process. Supposedly they were pretty mean creatures by nature, but based on the sounds coming from the dumpster, the creature within sounded like it was more fearful than angry.

She over the shoulder and towards the door, considering going back upstairs and telling her mom that it was too dark to take the trash out. Mom would understand, but she was stressed enough about their dirty apartment without having to deal with a bag of garbage sitting around until the morning…

Making up her mind, April took a deep breath and forced herself to stride closer to the bin as she called out. “You know, a dumpster probably isn’t the best place to hide, Mr. Raccoon.”

The noises suddenly cut off, replaced by a tense silence. April kicked the bottom of the bin with her shoe, causing a deep, warbling echo to reverberate through the dumpster. Whatever was within made a sharp noise, but didn’t growl or let out any other sounds of aggression. In fact, April could almost swear she heard a crunching sound as the creature dug itself deeper into the garbage. She glanced around, spotting a stack of cardboard boxes on one side of the dumpster. They didn’t look super sturdy, but if she stood on top of those she would definitely be able to reach the lid.

“I think I see how you got in there. I’m going to climb up and get the lid open for you, but you have to get yourself out, ok?”

The shuffling resumed as April dropped the trash bag she was still holding onto the ground and hoisted herself up onto the nearest box. It wobbled briefly, threatening to crumple under her weight, but ultimately held firm as the girl gained her balance and continued her upwards trek.

“Do raccoons have rabies? I think I remember Mom saying that they did. So you have to promise not to bite me, ok?” April grunted a little as she finally pulled herself onto the top box and crouched on her knees to peer back down. It was a bit disconcerting being up this high – a tumble from this height would seriously hurt. “I’m going to open the lid now, and you have to climb out and go back home to your family, ok?”

More rapid shuffling, and a small whine.

“I’ll take that as an ok.” April gripped the edge of the lid and braced herself. The light above the door to the stairwell suddenly flickered back on, settling her nerves a bit. At least now she would be able to see if the raccoon ran towards her. Shifting herself into a squatting position, April grunted and then surged upwards. “One, two, three!”

With a heave, she flung the lid wide open and then pressed herself against the brick wall as the lid slammed against it, thankfully not bouncing back and closing the dumpster a second time.

She expected an explosion of movements at this moment – a bundle of fur clawing its way out of the bin and hissing wildly as it vanished into the night. However, she only got one of those things.

April’s mouth gaped as she stared down into the dumpster.

A small, green creature wrapped in a filthy orange hoodie scrabbled at the side of the bin, its eyes flickering towards her and chest heaving as it hopped desperately on one foot. Even with its frantic attempts, April could tell that there was no way the creature would be able to pull itself out – especially not once she caught a glimpse of the foot it was attempting to keep from touching the ground. Broken beer bottles lay in the corner of the bin, catching the light as the trash bags beneath them shifted and buckled.

“Oh. My. Soup.” she gasped and dropped to her knees to get a better look. The creature yelped in surprise and stumbled backwards, dropping onto its bottom and then clambering in a backwards crab walk to put more distance between them. “Are you an alien?”

The creature fumbled away as she reached out a curious hand, and then suddenly – like spaghetti being slurped into a mouth – pulled its head and limbs into its hoodie.

“WHOA!” April nearly tumbled off the pile of boxes in surprise, her arms pinwheeling to keep her balance. “That’s so freaky- are you like a turtle alien?”

The turtle alien let out a small, pained whine from within the hoodie in response, and April suddenly remembered its foot. The ground beneath the creature was streaked with blood, clearly spread out in his desperate attempts to escape the metal prison. She felt a sympathetic twinge of pain – she’d cut herself on glass before, and knew that it hurt like all heck. To have a cut like that and have to put weight on it sounded awful.

For a second time since coming outside, April considered running back to the apartment to get her mother’s help. Then she had a sudden realization.

“Hey, I’m sorry – are you ok? It looks like you’re bleeding pretty bad. I have some bandaids and stuff in my fanny pack that might help. If you come over here, I might be able to pull you out.” No response. “Don’t make me come in there.” Still no response. “Ok then, here I come.”

Swinging her legs over the edge of the dumpster, April grimaced and then allowed herself to drop down into the dark depths. Her hands brushed the edges of the bin, helping to steer her descent and allowing her to remain upright. As soon as her shoes touched the bottom of the bin, the alien creature exploded out of its shell and held up its own arms to cover himself.

“No no no- stay back!”

April yelped and stumbled back obediently until her back pressed against the wall of the bin. “Wait - you can talk?”

The turtle alien kept his arms raised, but peeked through them to give her a slightly offended look. “F’course I can! I’m not a baby!”

“I didn’t mean to say that, I just – so you’re not an alien?”

The creature shook his head and finally dropped his arms to gesture at the shell peeking out of the bottom of his hoodie. “No, I’m a turtle.”

April could feel her shoulders slowly untensing as the creature – ok, turtle – spoke. He sounded young, perhaps slightly younger than herself. No wonder he’d freaked out when she approached him out of the darkness. “I’ve never seen a turtle like you before.”

“Well I have! I-“ the turtle started excitedly, and then snapped his mouth shut and turned away as if he suddenly remembered that he was speaking to a stranger and had said too much. His eyes flicked back towards the edge of the bin far above their heads, then towards April, and he shifted backwards slightly. “Never mind.”

So maybe he IS an alien. April bit the inside of her cheek and considered the information. He didn’t seem dangerous, especially with that wounded foot.

“It looks like you stepped on some glass – I can still help you out, if you’ll let me. I just got my first aid badge,” she proudly pointed to the circle on her vest, and watched as the turtle’s expression morphed into one of curiosity. She took this opportunity to slowly stretch her hand out and smiled when he didn’t immediately back away. “I’m April O’Neil.”

The turtle stared at her hand for a moment in confusion, and then reached out his own tiny one to shake. “I’m Mikey.”

“Nice to meet you.” April smiled warmly. It was odd – the sight and feeling of a green, three-fingered hand wrapped in her dark five-fingered one – but somehow it also felt right; like she had made a new friend. The two shook hands, and then April used her foot to clear a spot on the ground before lowering to her knees. Thankfully the trash can didn’t smell too awful at the moment – garbage day yesterday had assured that the can was relatively clean. “Now let me see that foot.”

Mikey extended his leg, wincing at the movement, and allowed April to cup his heel in her palm. The cut didn’t look as bad up close, but it would still likely need stitches. April frowned and stated the fact as she unzipped her fannypack and reached inside. “I can’t do stitches myself, but I can at least clean up the cut and wrap it to keep it from getting more hurt.”

The turtle nodded solemnly, though April heard his breath hitch slightly as if her were fighting back tears. “My dad has done stitches before – he can fix it.”

“Oh – is your dad a doctor?” April pulled a few cotton balls from her pack and dabbed the blood away from the cut, then withdrew a tube of Neosporin and applied a glob to the wound – this would have to do for now. Reaching back into her fannypack, the girl pulled out a few small pieces of gauze and a tiny roll of Ace bandages.

Mikey shook his head and screwed up his face as April continued to handle the injury. “No, he’s a rat.”

“Oh.”

The bin fell silent for a moment as April wound the bandages around his foot and then pulled her bandana over her shoulders. Mom would be upset that she had ‘lost’ part of her uniform, but this was more important. She undid the intricate knot and then tied the fabric around the turtle’s foot, just tight enough to hold the bandages in place. Rocking back onto her heels, April studied her work and nodded. “It’s not great, but this should help with the bleeding until your dad can take care of it. Oh – and here!”

She reached back into her pouch and withdrew a smaller adhesive bandage, which she quickly unwrapped and pressed onto a scrape on the turtle’s knee. “There ya go- all patched up!”

Mikey leaned forward to inspect the bandage and then gasped in delight. “A Lou Jitsu bandaid? He’s the coolest! My brothers and I like to watch his movies!”

April grinned at the bright smile on her patient’s face. “Oh yeah? I’ve only seen a few of his movies – I prefer Jupiter Jim stuff personally.”

Mikey nodded, his head bobbing excitedly. “He’s cool, too! I just wish that –“ His words were cut off by a loud gurgle, and he quickly wrapped his hands around his front. “Oh – I’d forgotten I was hungry.”

Before April could say anything, the turtle rolled to his knees – careful to keep his injured foot off the ground – and reached back behind one of the trashbags to withdraw a familiar looking pizza box.

April’s eyes widened. “Is that why you ended up in here?”

“Yeah – someone threw away almost a whole pizza!” The turtle shook his head in disbelief as he opened the box and looked in at the half-eaten food. April could hear his stomach gurgle a second time, but the turtle closed his eyes and forced himself to close the lid again. “Can you believe that? This is enough food to feed my brothers and I for at least – “

A sudden burst of movement exploded outside of the bin, and the two children immediately clamped their mouths shut and looked at each other nervously. Several moments passed, before a panicked whisper echoed through the alleyway. “Michelangelo?”

“Daddy!” Tears sprung to Mikey’s eyes as he let out a quiet shriek, causing April to jump in surprise. Before she could register what was happening, a shadow fell over the top of the bin and then something long snaked in and wrapped itself around both children. Suddenly April found herself being whisked up and out of the dumpster, arms flailing for a moment before she was unceremoniously dropped on the concrete and watched Mikey being pulled into the arms of the new creature.

“Oh, Michelangelo, my son, my child, my dear boy,” the rat cradled Mikey in his arms as he sniffed the boy all over and pulled him against his chest. “Don’t you ever wander out of my sight again.”

The turtle sobbed quietly, arms wrapping around his father and clutching handfuls of fur as if his life depended on it. “I’m sorry Daddy, I didn’t mean to – I was trying to help –“

“Hush now, we can discuss that later.” The rat suddenly glared in April’s direction, as if just remembering that she was there. “And who are you? Speak, Child – did you harm my son?”

April’s mouth felt dry as cotton as she searched for an answer. From her point on the ground, the rat seemed to tower over her – though in the back of her mind she estimated that she herself was slightly larger in height. Even in the low lighting, she could see the creature’s tail thrashing threateningly on the ground – one wrong word and he clearly did not seem afraid to use it. “I – I, uh-”

“No, Daddy, she helped me!” Mikey finally spoke up, his voice still trembling and muffled from where his face was pressed into his father’s fur. “I was trying to g-get pizza, and I fell a-and stepped on glass. She said my foot needs stitches, but she helped me – see?”

The rat cast another glance at April and then gently took the turtle’s foot in his hands, whiskers twitching as he sniffed the wounded area. After a moment of inspection, April could see his fur starting to flatten back against his body and the tension release from his limbs.

“Hm. I see. Then she has done a great deed, for which I am grateful.” The creature bowed his head towards April. “I am sorry if I scared you, Child. You will understand my concern should you have children of your own one day.”

April breathed a sigh of relief and slowly rose to her feet. “Uh, it’s no problem – I’m glad I could help. And I think I might be able to help another way.”

Turning on her heel, April felt her way back to the trash bag she had dropped on the ground. Reaching inside, she withdrew a second pizza box and turned to hold it out to the rat. “This one isn’t as full – I think it’s mostly crust – but Mikey said you guys were hungry and I thought…”

A small gasp sounded from the shadows, followed by a hissed “shh! She’ll hear you!”. April hesitated, eyes searching the darkness for a moment and then turning quizzically back to Mikey and his father.

The rat seemed unsurprised as he turned and called into the shadows. “Raphael, please take your brother for me.”

A larger turtle much bigger than Mikey ran out of the shadows and held out his arms to accept the smaller turtle. April watched as Mikey clasped his hands around the larger turtle’s neck and let out another sob of relief. The bigger turtle hugged him back equally as tightly, and then drew back into the darkness where April could see two more forms dog piling onto their brothers and frantically patting Mikey’s cheeks and shell.

“Thank you for taking care of my son, Ms. …?” the rat’s voice drew April back to attention, and she reached out to place the two pizza boxes into his open claws.

“O’Neil. April O’Neil.”

“Ms. O’Neil.” The rat bowed his head graciously. “I have been called many names, but you may call me Splinter. I am forever indebted to you for watching over my boy in a time of need, and for the help you are offering. You cannot understand how much it means to me to see that there are people willing to overlook our differences and show genuine kindness.”

April blushed, heat rising to her cheeks as she shrugged. “Like I said, it’s no problem. I’m just glad to help.” Glancing back down at the trash bag still clutched in her hands, the girl lowered her voice to a whisper. “I should probably go now– my mom is going to be looking for me soon. But is there any other way I can help? Or can I see you again?”

“Perhaps.” Splinter nodded back towards her building. “I don’t believe that any kind deed goes unrewarded, but perhaps we can discuss that another time. For now, I don’t wish to keep you from your mother. She might be getting worried about you.”

Before April could respond, the rat snapped his tail once on the ground and then – as if they had never existed – the creatures were gone, and the alley suddenly felt much lonelier.

“Yeah,” April scuffed her sneaker against the concrete and called out into the night, hoping that maybe her new friends were still near enough to hear. “I hope that I can see you again.” 


	3. Communications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After her run in with Splinter and the turtles, April ands up essentially becoming their penpal. Everything is going fine until the messages suddenly stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops I wrote more.

April found the first note jammed under her bedroom window, the edges fluttering in the breeze and almost unnoticeable. She still wondered how Splinter had made it to the fourth floor – and how he knew which bedroom was hers – but she was slowly learning to not question her new acquaintances.

_“Thank you again for the pizza last night. Michelangelo is doing well and sends his greetings. We appreciate your discretion. -S”_

April tucked the note between the worn pages of ‘The Tale of Despereaux’ and hid the book on her shelf. The last line made her feel slightly uneasy. Instinct told her to immediately reveal what had happened in the alley to her mother, but something simultaneously held her back. She could already guess her mother’s reaction – questioning her daughter’s sanity and then making a big deal out of not letting her go outside alone. On the flip side, say her mother believed her immediately. The image of flashing lights outside and soldiers showing up to haul her new friends off to laboratories made April shudder. No, for the time being, she would keep this to herself.

She ended up leaving a paper bag full of bologna sandwiches and apple slices on the fire escape. It wasn’t as great as pizza, but Mikey’s growling stomach the night before told her that food of any variety would be a blessing for them.

_“I won’t tell anyone – and I’m glad Mikey’s doing ok. I wish I could help more. – April O’Neil”_

The note and paper bag sat out on the fire escape all day, making April wonder if perhaps Splinter’s message had been his way of ending communication. However, when she passed the window during a nighttime bathroom run, she was pleased to see that both were gone. A second note now sat in its place – a paper tube tied together with a yellow piece of fabric.

April retrieved the bundle silently and then hurried to the bathroom where she could turn on the light without disturbing her snoring mother. Once situated on the bathroom tile, the girl pulled off the fabric and smiled. Her bandana looked almost brighter than before and smelled strongly of soap.

_“I wanted to return your scarf today – I washed it this morning, so hopefully it is ok to use again. My sons also wanted me to give you these. – S”_

Several smaller pieces of paper were rolled up within the note. April looked back towards the door, listening to make sure that her mom was still asleep, and then carefully spread the papers on the floor in front of her.

Three crudely drawn crayon drawings looked back at her. The first consisted entirely of scribbles – childlike interpretations of flowers and smiley faces, and a round circle at the bottom of the page that had been labeled ‘cat’ in shaky letters. The names “Michelangelo” and “Raphael” were written neatly in the corner in an adult’s handwriting – clearly Splinter’s. The second drawing was similar to the first, though the page looked much busier as if more hands had been involved. A small tear in the paper told her of someone pushing too hard with the crayon and accidentally ripping the page, and based on the name scrawled underneath the hole it seemed to be “Leo’s”. The final drawing was more concise than the rest – four short green stick figures bearing matching smiles and a slightly bigger grey one with a pink line that April imagined was a tail. An orange arrow pointed to one of the green figures, labeling it as “Me”, and April grinned. That had to be Mikey.

She turned the paper over in her hand and examined the back. Mikey had drawn almost the same drawing on the first page – probably tracing the original image through the paper – but it was a bit different. This Mikey had a red scribble on his foot casually labeled ‘blud’, and the character was holding hands with a new character. This one was about the same height as the Mikey character, but was drawn with a tan crayon and featured a black shape above her head (April couldn’t help but laugh when she saw the scribbled out word ‘fur’ floating next to the cloud, and a slightly smaller marker beneath it labeling the cloud as hair). Mikey’s name was written at the bottom of the page in wobbly handwriting, as if he had been using a lot of concentration to write it neatly.

April’s cheeks almost hurt from grinning as she carefully folded the papers back up added them between the pages of her book.

A third note was left taped to the fire escape, thanking Splinter for returning the scarf and promising a drawing in response if he came back the next day.

The next few weeks consisted of more of the same – April sneaking food out of her school lunchbox and leaving it on the fire escape with a note or drawing. Splinter didn’t come every evening, but that only served to make each morning a surprise. Her mom seemed shocked at the change – April had always been a night owl, but these days it seemed like she could never wait to dive into bed. April brushed this off as just being tired from school, to which her mother responded by packing extra food in her lunches every day.

“Brain food,” the woman reasoned as she tossed in a second pack of crackers and added a few more grapes to the Ziploc baggie. “Plus you’re probably coming up on a growth spurt – I started puberty at about your age, so you’ll need extra nutrients for when you start your –”

“Sounds great!” April had interrupted, eyes wide with horror as she grabbed the lunch box and darted back towards her room. “Thanks for the advice – gotta grab my backpack – I can’t be late for school!”

_“I wish I could see you guys again– school is boring and my mom’s being a bit weird. On the plus side, I can probably leave more food out now. – April”_

_“The boys have been asking to see you, too. It would be too dangerous for us to be seen on the surface, however. I have kept the boys at home since our meeting. Also please don’t worry about the food if it is inconveniencing you. We appreciate it, but I would hate to upset your mother. – S”_

_“No, that’s not an issue. Like I’ve said before, I wish I could do more to help. And what do you mean by surface? I’ve been wanting to know more about how/where you guys live. I know you said before that you’re safe, but what does that mean? – April”_

The messages stopped for a few days after this. Her last note had disappeared from the fire escape as expected, but nothing was left in its place. After the third evening with no response, April began to worry that she had said something wrong. 

_“I’m sorry – should I not have asked about the surface? I know you guys have to stay hidden. I’m sorry if I pried. – April”_

_“It’s been four days since I heard from you now. I hope you’re not mad at me. If you are, I’m really sorry. - A”_

_“I left a few bananas on the fire escape, but they look like they went bad from sitting out there. I’ll try to leave more out tomorrow. – April”_

_“Did something happen to you guys? I can’t stop imagining the worst now. – April”_

_“Just please let me know you’re ok. – A”_

_“I miss hearing from you.”_

_“Please be ok.”_

Two weeks ended up passing with no response, and April hated every moment of them. Her notes were steadily accumulating on the fire escape, untouched and unread. After the third one she started to tuck them all into an envelope and stuck the envelope itself to the window. School and girl scout meetings seemed to drag on. Her usual fascination with school and learning diminished measurably, landing her in after school tutorials to combat her falling grades. At home her mom fussed over her diminished appetite and sudden lack of energy, questioning if her daughter was sick or if something had happened. April just shook her head and mumbled that it was ‘probably puberty or whatever’.

Realistically, her mind was constantly bouncing between two theories.

One fear was that Splinter had realized that it was dangerous communicating with a human. Maybe when April had asked about the surface, he started to fear that she would spread the information and endanger his small family. The idea that he and the turtles distrusted her so much made April’s heart clench.

The other fear was even greater – what if someone had seen him leaving the messages for her? April had awoken screaming one night after a nightmare where the turtles had been ripped from their father’s arms, wailing as they were thrown into cages and then hauled away to be experimented on. Mikey’s terrified face kept coming back into her mind. He’d been so afraid of her, a child barely older than himself and coming to his aid. She didn’t want to imagine him being approached by grown adults wielding scalpels and–

As much as she hated it, April desperately wished that the first option was the truth.

Her answer finally came at the end of the second week.

A small knock on her bedroom window roused April from a restless sleep. She reached over to her nightstand and patted around for her glasses, then sat up and flipped the switch on her lamp. The sight that she saw almost made her collapse with relief.

There was Splinter on the fire escape, one hand sheepishly waving in greeting and the other clutching her envelope.

April nearly tripped over her own feet as she threw herself out of the bed and dashed across the room. Reaching the window, she shoved the glass open and then threw her arms around the rat. “Oh my gosh – Splinter – I’m so sorry – I don’t know what I did but I thought –”

“I am sorry, too,” the rat gave her a fatherly embrace in return, allowing the girl to squeeze his shoulders, and then gently pulled away. Even in the darkness, April could see bags beneath the rat’s eyes. “I did not mean to frighten you, or to stop corresponding. The past two weeks have just been… a lot.”

“Is everyone ok?”

Splinter nodded tiredly. “They are now. Michelangelo’s foot had been healing quite well, but it developed an infection that ended up getting him quite sick. He’s alright now, of course, but it was hard to handle without access to medical supplies.” The rat shook his head in frustration. “How I wish I could have just taken him to a hospital – we caught it early on, and I’m sure that it would not have gotten as bad as it did had he been able to receive antibiotics.”

April didn’t know what to say, so she remained silent as he continued. “As if that weren’t enough, Donatello and Leonardo both came down with what I can only assume was the flu. Raphael and I ended up having our hands full, and time just slipped away from me.” he sighed, ears drooping slightly as he waved the hand with the envelope. “Again, I am sorry that I frightened you with our silence. I was going to just leave a note tonight explaining the circumstances, but after reading your messages, I realized it would seem cruel to not speak in person.”

“I’m just glad you’re all ok,” April sighed heavily, her mind fully relaxing for the first time in two weeks. “I was afraid I’d said something wrong or asked too much.”

The rat nodded softly. “I appreciate your concern – it was wrong of me to put the pressure of secrecy on someone so young, but your generosity and kindness have come to mean a lot to us, Ms. O’Neil. The boys talk about you constantly, and have been asking when they could next see you. Which brings me to my decision,”

April watched as his expression morphed into a more serious one. For all the respect and care she’d grown to have for Splinter, his tougher expression reminded her of the way he’d looked at her the first time they’d met – she was a potential threat to his family, and he would do what he needed to protect those he loved.

“There is a lot that I have not explained about my boys’ and my existence – some of this information I have not shared with them, either. However, you have proven your trustworthiness and integrity, and I would like to extend an offer to you. I cannot thank you enough for how you have helped our family, but I would like to show you how much you mean to us. If you are willing, I would like for you to visit our home. You do not have to come, nor do you have to return if you do not want to. But my family would love the opportunity to personally honor you as our hogosha – our guardian spirit. I hope you understand that this would have to remain private-”

“I would love to!” April blurted out, then immediately blushed at her eagerness. “I mean – I would love to get to hang out with Mikey and the others. And you, too.”

Small crinkle lines appeared under Splinter’s tired eyes as he smiled. “Very well. In that case, I would like to invite you to dinner tomorrow evening. I will personally come and get you, and can escort you to our home. Once we are finished, I can return you here before anyone will notice your absence.”

“Ok!” April bounced on the balls of her feet and grinned. “I can’t wait!”

“Oh, and until then,” Splinter pulled a small pencil from the folds of his robe and scribbled something on the back of the envelope. “Donatello recently helped me to install a phone in our lair. I figured that this might me an easier method of communication than our notes.”


	4. The Dinner Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Splinter invites April over to the lair for dinner, and April learns that there are secrets yet to be revealed.

April pressed the buttons on the side of her watch and squinted as a soft blue light illuminated the small screen: 2:27 A.M. When Splinter said no one would know that she was gone, he wasn’t kidding. Her street seemed to be asleep, despite the fact that she could still hear sirens and cars moving in the distance. New York City was never totally silent, but at this hour it was the quietest it was ever going to get. Her mom’s heavy snoring from the other room was the loudest noise around, and didn’t show any signs of stopping even as April had pushed open her bedroom window and crawled out onto the fire escape.

She’d snuck back into her school clothes once her mom had gone to bed, tucking her pajamas and a few stuffed animals under the covers to give the illusion that someone was still beneath them. April didn’t think her mom would even come to check, but doing so still made her giggle – this all felt like a dramatic scene from a movie. The young protagonist, sneaking out of her house and meeting a stranger in the night to go to a party – April was sure she’d seen at least three Disney Channel movies with a similar storyline.

The girl’s stomach growled slightly, serving as a reminder that she hadn’t eaten much for dinner. She briefly considered pulling a granola bar from the box in her backpack, but then decided against it. They were supposed to be eating at the lair tonight, and it would seem rude for her to show up full and having eaten part of her gift for them. Still, considering the fact that the family had been dumpster diving for food only weeks ago, April couldn’t help but wonder what their meal could even consist of. It was very possible that the food would be a hodgepodge of things pulled from dumpsters or stolen from open window sills.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to eat a little bit of something beforehand -

“Are you ready?”

April bit back a shriek at the sudden voice hovering over her head and stumbled back across the metal grating, her fist swinging wildly in the direction of the source. Before it could land, however, a slightly larger and softer hand caught the fist and gently held on to keep her from tripping over her own feet.

“Splinter, oh my gosh,” April caught her balance and then pulled her fist back to place the palm over her pounding heart. “You nearly gave me a heart attack. I didn’t even hear you climbing up the ladder – you’re like a ninja or something!”

Splinter’s whiskers twitched in amusement. He was perched on the edge of the fire escape, squatting in such a way that he looked like he were about to leap frog onto the platform where April was sitting. A dark brown robe was tied around his body, and a hoodie was pulled over that to further cover his rodent features. “Or something like that,” he mused. “But I am sorry to have scared you. Are you ready?”

April nodded, shouldering her backpack. “Yup! So how do we get there?”

The rat leapt nimbly from the bars, landing silently on his claws and then pulling himself to his feet. “I know that we spoke about this last night, but I wanted to give you one more warning before we go. Our home is intentionally a bit difficult for the average person to find, but that is for the safety of myself and my sons. It is of the utmost importance to me that you do not reveal its location, even to your mother. I am trusting you with a secret that, if shared, could spell danger for my family. You do understand this, right?”

April bobbed her head hard in affirmation, then gasped as her glasses slid down her nose and nearly tumbled to the ground below. “Yes sir!”

“Heh, alright then.” Splinter’s serious expression changed to a paternal smile. “Let us hurry now– I left the oven on.”

***

Splinter was not exaggerating about their home being difficult to find. After leaping from the fire escape with April hanging onto his neck, the rat had ricocheted off of the surrounding brick walls until he landed safely on the ground below. There he had led her to a nearby manhole cover, which he removed with ease and then pointed out the metal bars connected to the sides of the cement tube. The two then descended together into the depths, April grimacing slightly at the smell and general dampness in the air until they reached a bigger tunnel below. The air felt at least slightly drier there, even if the smell persisted. Once they had dropped onto the underground sidewalk, Splinter began to follow a seemingly nonsensical path through the sewers – two rights, a left, straight for several minutes, three lefts, a right – April tried to memorize the course, but eventually gave up and instead focused on not stepping in anything weird. 

Eventually the sewer area ended, and the two emerged onto what appeared to be cement platforms that ran alongside old railroad tracks.

“From what I understand, these tunnels were originally going to be part of the New York subway system,” Splinter explained as he jumped down onto the tracks and then held a hand up for April to take. She took it gratefully and jumped, the CLANG from her feet landing on the metal sending echoes through the tunnels. “However, after several tunnel collapses and general flooding issues, these tracks were abandoned and left vacant. So for now, the boys and I have decided to make use of what was left behind. Someday soon we will likely out grow our home and be forced to relocate to an area that better suits our needs, but until then,”

Splinter gestured down the line, and April gasped. A lone subway train car was positioned a short distance down the tracks, definitely older and more rusted than any of the cars April had seen actively moving in the subway station. The car also appeared slightly smaller – more like a sleeper car than one of the long, steel tubes that normally carried dozens of human passengers across the city. Several tubes and wires were suspended from the ceiling above the car and hummed softly – April guessed that this was how they had access to water and electricity. “Oh wow – you guys live in there?”

Before Splinter could reply, a door on the side of the car slammed open and a shriek of delight rang through the tunnel. “They’re here!”

Within seconds, a small green and orange form crashed headlong into April, bowling her over and knocking the breath from her lungs. She stumbled backwards, gasping, and eventually fell flat on her butt on the tracks.

“Michelangelo, calm yourself!” Splinter warned, but there was a smile in his voice as the small turtle wormed his way into April’s lap and wrapped his short arms around her waist.

Once April could breathe regularly again, she looked down into her arms and locked caramel colored eyes with the chocolate brown ones of Michelangelo. The hoodie-clad box turtle rested his chin on her chest and gave her a gap-toothed grin, showing no signs of the fear that had been so prominent on their first meeting. His sleeveless hoodie also seemed to have been thoroughly cleaned since then, since the turtle smelled more like a normal, sweaty little boy rather than the filthy garbage he had been hiding in. “I’m so excited you’re here – Dad told us you were coming over and so we’ve been getting the lair ready for you all day! And he said that since it’s a special occasion, we get spaghetti AND meatballs – that’s one of my favorite foods beside pizza!”

April opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off as three other turtles of varying shapes and sizes tumbled out of the train car. “Mikey, you were supposed to wait inside until Dad brought her in!”

Michelangelo shifted into a sitting position, still perched atop April’s stomach, and stuck his tongue out at his brothers. “Well, they’re hear now, and it’s polite to greet guests - right Dad?”

Splinter’s ears flicked as he pushed down the hood that had been covering his head. “I suppose so. But it’s also equally as polite to not crush your guests.”

“Oh, sorry – ” the turtle quickly rolled off of his newfound friend and allowed her to stand, but didn’t show any signs of joining his brothers. “I’m just super happy to see you!”

“I’m happy to see you, too, Mikey!” April grinned. “How’s the foot doing?”

“Better now! I got really sick from it before, and Dad had to take out the stitches to fix it,” Mikey stuck the specified foot into the air, allowing April to see the row of bandages looped around it. His beak wrinkled up as he remembered the incident. “It really hurt, but I didn’t even cry, hardly. But now it’s healing up, and I just have to walk like this for a while – ” He took a few steps away from April, balancing on the heel of his injured foot with each step to avoid putting pressure on the wound. The process looked painful, but Mikey ended the walk cycle with a proud grin. “Plus Raph has been giving me piggy back rides, which has been cool.”

April looked towards the other turtles, suddenly remembering that they had an audience. She smiled warmly at the largest one, who she was fairly certain was Raph. The snapping turtle shuffled his feet under her gaze and blushed shyly. A red football jersey fit snuggly over his shell, but April could already see where several spines were protruding through the fabric. He was about the same height as she was, a fact that would have made her nervous had she not seen how he behaved before. Despite his gruff looking exterior, April still remembered the way he had cradled Mikey after Splinter pulled them out of the dumpster, and the small flowers he had drawn on their correspondences. “That’s nice of him.”

“I don’t mind.” Raph rubbed one arm and smiled. “I don’t want him to hurt his foot any more.”

The other two turtles were slightly more reserved in their greetings, hovering close to their father as they observed April. She didn’t blame them – she and Mikey had formed a bit of a closer bond through their initial meeting and eventual note passing. The other three she only really knew by name and what Splinter and Mikey had included in their messages.

“Why don’t we head inside now,” Splinter motioned with his tail towards the car. “It’s brighter in there, and April still has school tomorrow, so we shouldn’t keep her too long.”

“You go to school?” one of the boys piped up, his eyes suddenly sparking with interest. A more middle-sized turtle with a purple hoodie tied around his waist peered out from behind his brothers. He wore what appeared to be a large army style backpack over his shell, and a pair of thick black glasses was perched on his snout, making April briefly wondered how Splinter had managed to get his claws on prescription lenses. “What grade are you in?”

“I’m in sixth grade,” April smiled as the group shuffled down the remaining line and into the train car. Splinter ducked in first, muttering to himself that ‘the meatballs had better be done by now’. Mikey clung to her hand, skipping beside April and pulling her up the metal steps. “But I’m only eleven. My birthday falls late in the year, so I’m one of the younger kids in my grade – most of my classmates are twelve.”

The turtle – Donatello, she decided – listened with interest, his head bobbing as she spoke. “Cool. We’re all eight and are homeschooled, so that would make us…” he squinted thoughtfully. “Third grade, I think? Right Dad?”

“Something like that,” Splinter nodded absently as he hurried around the stove and adjusted the burner. “School was a bit different for me when I was your age, and the levels can vary from country to country.”

“Dad’s from Japan.” The turtle in the sleeveless blue tank top piped up, speaking his first words since April had arrived. She turned to face him, and was surprised to see the twin streaks of red running down either side of his face. They looked almost like crescent moons, running vertically from the tip of his head to right above his chin and passing over both eyes. Similar shaped yellow stripes ran up and down his arms and legs, marking him as a red eared slider – a term April had discovered during the frantic turtle research she had been doing over the past few weeks. She hadn’t had a chance to see his markings in the dark that first night, but now in the light of the car April could see that most of the turtles bore unique markings. Donatello’s shoulders boasted purple rectangles below his backpack straps, and bright yellow circles crept up and down Mikey’s legs. A few smaller dots were smattered across the bridge of his nose, almost as if flicked from an artist’s paintbrush. Several stickers had also been slapped to Mikey’s plastron, further diversifying his color scheme. They were all quite a sight to behold, really – a brilliant splash of color and life amongst the darkness of the sewers.

Mikey suddenly tugged at her arm, pulling her out of her thoughts. “C’mon – let me show you around.”

Now that she was looking at her surroundings, April couldn’t help but gape. The inside of the train car was nothing like the cold, intimidating exterior. The whole thing primarily consisted of one long room, with a curtain hung along the back right wall. The front of the car had been completely remade, and was now outfitted with the stove that Splinter was cooking on, a small sink, and a tiny cabinet from which he pulled a variety of mismatched silverware. Behind the rat was a small card table, currently covered with a variety of knickknacks, VHS tapes, stacks of used notepads, and books that April assumed had been collected over the years. Her eyes glanced across the spines – science and engineering textbooks, a few nature magazines, and then several books labeled with symbols that she could only assume were Japanese. She recognized a few of the VHS covers as being Lou Jitsu movies, and the rest were a collection of old cartoons she vaguely remembered having heard of. A large wooden tub sat underneath the table, which Raphael pointed out and clarified that it was for baths.

The four turtles elbowed past each other as they continued towards the back of the car, where twinkling lights had been strung along the ceiling and posters bearing characters from various action movies were plastered over the windows. Donatello explained that this area had originally been the conductors’ sleeping quarters, and two bunk beds had been built into the walls for layovers or when conductors took shifts driving through the night. Nowadays, this served as the boys’ bedroom. Leonardo seemed to be warming up to April as they guided her around, and he whipped open the curtain proudly to reveal the bottom bunk.

A large amount of the twinkling lights were gathered here, woven through the bars beneath the top bunk so as to dangle above their heads like stars in the night sky. The whole bunk was outfitted with a handful of t-shirt pillows and several small blankets with frayed edges. A large quilt lay on top of these, stretching from one end of the bunk to the other in a brilliant gradient of red, blue, purple and orange fabric. April noted a few holes poked through the red portion of the blanket – a clear sign that that was wear Raphael often slept.

The top bunk was much less decorated – two pillows and a thin blanket folded neatly at the foot of the bed. This was clearly Splinter’s domain, but Leo loudly announced that he had thrown up on the bed during their bout with the flu the week before.

“I had to clean it up,” Raph grumbled. “Since everyone else was sick.”

Mikey patted his arm solemnly. “You’re our hero, bro.”

On the opposite side of the bunks sat a small, portable television – April remembered having seen a similar one in her grandparent’s house back in Northampton. She had vague memories of watching cartoons in her grandpa’s workshop while he worked on cars, and having to lean in close in order to hear the sound that could never seem to get loud enough. In this small area, though, April could imagine snuggling into one of the bunk beds and allowing the speakers to echo through the car.

The last area of the car, immediately to the left of the door, featured a small table that folded out of the wall. A few books had been stacked here – easy readers and a handful of well worn comic books that April guessed were part of their homeschool curriculum. A row of spiral notebooks bearing each boy’s name sat in the window sill, and Donatello pointed his out proudly.

“I’ve got a list of inventions in there- stuff I’m going to make one day when I’m a world famous scientist!”

April grinned. “Cool! I’ve never been great at science myself – I’m more of a math person.”

“Ooh – I like math, too!” the turtle flapped his hands in front of him excitedly, causing Leonardo to giggle. “I can show you what I’m working on, if you want!”

“You can show April your work later, Purple,” Splinter suddenly announced as he sat a stack of plates and silverware on the school table. “For now, let’s go ahead and eat.”

He didn’t need to speak twice – the boys’ calm demeanor quickly dissolved into pushing and shoving as they all grabbed for plates and scooped out heaping portions of spaghetti and meatballs. April was a bit startled at the sudden commotion, but Splinter saw her expression and rolled his eyes tiredly as if to say ‘this happens everyday’.

Once everyone had settled down, forks in their hands and steaming plates before them, Splinter raised his cup. “I want to take this time again to honor Ms. April O’Neil, and the kindness that she has shown our family. From helping Michelangelo in his time of need, to helping us with groceries, she has proven herself to be our hogosha. April, thank you again.”

“To the hogosha!” the boys chorused as they lifted their cups.

April shrunk down in her seat a little, ears burning as she blushed. Thankfully they didn’t seem to need her to say anything in response, as the whole family immediately lowered their cups and dove hungrily into their meals.

***

“Ugh,” April placed a hand over her stomach and sat back in her seat. “That was so good.”

“Yeah,” Mikey nodded in agreement, having already flopped his head into her lap. The other boys sat in various stages of food comas, Donatello’s eyes drooping occasionally and Leo leaning heavily against the wall. Only Raphael seemed to fully awake as he happily bit into another forkful of pasta. Having enough food was clearly a rarity in this household, and being totally satisfied was even rarer. “My tummy is happy.”

April grinned down at the turtle in her lap and patted his shell. He made a purring sound in response and scooched closer, silently urging her to continue. As she did so, the girl looked up at where Splinter was quietly washing dishes. “I can help out with that, if you’d like.”

Splinter’s flicked in her direction, but he continued his job calmly. “That is alright – I’m almost finished, and then we need to get you home.”

April glanced at her watch. Sure enough, it was almost four a.m. She wondered briefly if she could convince her mom that she was sick in order to skip school, since she could already tell that she would not be getting any work done.

“Speaking of home, Leo mentioned that you were originally from Japan? That’s so cool – I’ve never been out of the country before.”

The rat nodded, though April could almost feel a silent guard go up as he spoke. “Yes, I was born and raised in Japan, but I came to America when I was still young. It was a good life, but…” he turned and looked over his boys. “My life wasn’t complete until I adopted these four.”

The girl considered his words for a moment, pondering if her next question would be rude to ask before she finally blurted it out. “How did you get to America? I mean, I’d imagine it’s hard to fly or something when you have to be in disguise the whole time.”

Splinter paused, and April immediately bit her tongue. That was clearly a sore topic. “I’m sorry- you don’t have to talk about that if you don’t want to.”

“No, it is alright,” the creature gave a light shrug of his shoulders, and then turned back to the dishes in his hands. “Life was not always like this for me. Let us just leave it like that.”

April yearned to dig deeper and ask more questions, but she swallowed them down and nodded. Whether he noticed it or not, she could see the way that his shoulders had tensed beneath his robe at her words, and how his ears had flattened slightly. Whatever had happened to him in the past, Splinter was clearly not ready to speak openly about it – or at least, not to her.

Her thoughts were cut short when sleep apparently overtook Leonardo, and the boy’s head dropped to the table with a small ‘thwack’. Mikey and Raph immediately burst into quiet laughter, only barely managing to muffle the noise behind their hands. Donnie watched the incident through half-hooded eyes, a look of confusion on his face as if he couldn’t tell what had just happened, and then slowly nudged Leo’s plate out of the way before his brother could end up covered in marinara.

“I think someone’s ready for bed,” April laughed, but she couldn’t blame him. Her own eyes were drooping heavily, and she was already dreading the long walk back to her apartment.

“I’ve got him,” Raph finally said as he got over his giggle fit and hopped out of his chair. April watched the turtle gently lift his brother from the table and carry him towards the open end of the sink, where he coaxed the half-conscious turtle into brushing his teeth. Even though she knew that all of the turtles were the same age, it was hard not to see Raphael as the big brother of the bunch – a role he clearly took with pride. The thought almost made her feel jealous – she’d always thought that it would be nice to have a younger sibling.

As if reading her mind, Mikey yawned pitifully from her lap and stretched his arms into the air. “M’legs are tired – carry me?”

April smiled down at the sleepy bundle and grinned. “Where to?”

“Gotta brush my teeth.”

“Alright, then,” the girl opened her arms and allowed Mikey to cling to her side like a baby koala bear. Donnie followed close behind, his steps heavy as he reached out to grab Mikey’s ankle for guidance. Together the trio shuffled towards the sink and traded places with Raph and Leo. The younger two both pulled their toothbrushes out of a cabinet and set to work as Splinter dried off the last dish and set it to the side. He nodded gratefully at April, and then cleared his throat. 

"I should probably take April home now, boys,” The air filled with a chorus of sleepy moans. “So everyone say your goodbyes, and off to bed.”

“Can we read a story tonight?” Raph asked hopefully as he pulled his jersey over his head and climbed into bed. Leo was already snoring quietly at his side, but shifted obediently when Raph nudged him.

“If there is anyone still awake when I return home, yes.” 

Donnie let out a small, exhausted ‘woo’ as he spit into the sink and then wiped his mouth on his arm. “G’night, April. See you next time.”

“Yeah, goodnight!”

“Goodnight!”

“zzzzz… ood ni….zzzz.”

After giving each of the boys that asked a last hug, April shouldered her backpack and followed Splinter out the door- but not forgetting to leave the box of granola bars on the table. Her eyes drooped heavily as she walked, but her heart soared with warmth as she reminisced on the evening. Granted it had only been an hour and a half, but she couldn’t help but feel the sensation that this was a landmark occasion in her life. Each of the boys had won her heart in a different way, and she was already excited to come back during the daytime in order to hang out and ask more questions. Like where did they go the bathroom? Why did Donnie wear that big backpack the whole time she was there? Was he really going to me a ton of inventions like he said? And what about the future lair that Splinter had mentioned?

April smiled to herself as Splinter began to hum a walking song under his breath. She still had questions about the rat as well. There were somethings that he wasn’t telling her, and that he didn’t seem to want the boys to know either. But what?

When they finally reached the ladder that led to the surface, Splinter allowed April to wrap her arms around his neck as he carried her up and out of the sewer, then up to the fire escape before she even realized what was happening. The rat waited patiently as she climbed back through her window, bidding her farewell with a promise that she could come over again whenever she wanted, and then he vanished.

And as April climbed into bed, not even bothering to put her pjs back on, she rested in that promise – that she would see the boys again, and learn more about their world.


	5. Adaptation

Even after nearly two months of regularly walking through the sewers, April still couldn’t help but feel the taddest bit unnerved whenever she ventured through the massive concrete maze alone. The flickering lights lining abandoned maintenance tunnels did little to cast aside the shadows that loomed around each corner, and the constant shuffling of small rodents and bugs along the ground still made her stomach turn ever so slightly.

However, for once in its existence, the sewer was definitely dryer than the same path above ground.

It was almost impossible to hear the thunder and lightning crashing through the thick layers of concrete and rebar over her head, but the rushing dark water that ran through the center of the tunnels was evidence enough that the storm had not yet let up. A chill had also fallen in the sewers as a result of the water, making April wish she had grabbed a second jacket that morning to replace her currently wet one. She stomped her feet a little harder as she walked, teeth chattering slightly as she picked up her pace.

It had been raining hard all morning, so she hadn’t been too surprised when her school’s lights suddenly shut off– though it apparently caught enough students off guard that the hallway was immediately filled with the piercing shrieks of dozens of sixth graders. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a buzz of excitement when the principal had come over the speaker and announced that they were sending everyone home due to the weather.

April’s mom typically worked weekdays at the hospital, so the young girl was used to coming home in the afternoon to an empty apartment. However, with school closing at noon today, that meant that she now had five hours of alone time to kill – and she wasn’t intending on spending any of it actually alone.

Bursting through the school doors with her backpack serving as a makeshift umbrella, April left a quick message on her mom’s cell to explain the situation and say that she was spending the rest of the school day at a friend’s house. She promised to text if anything changed and would still be home in time to start dinner, and then hung up as she darted into the nearest subway station.

To no surprise, she could hear the guys laughing and yelling before she even reached the alcove where their train car home was parked. April grinned as she heard young voices bouncing through the tunnels, punctuated by raucous laughter from the turtles and the occasional paternal warning from Splinter. Despite how they might appear on the outside, the guys really did seem like four normal, rambunctious little boys.

“Throw the ball my direction! Over here!”

“Donnie, the point is for us not to know where you are, remember?” Leo’s voice reminded with a laugh.

“I know- but you guys never chase me right!” Donnie’s responded, voice high and pinched with frustration.

“No, I’ve got the ball! Chase me!” Mikey laughed, immediately followed by the sound of thundering footsteps and a shriek of excitement.

“Hey, guys!” April chirped, announcing her presence as she rounded the last corner and hopped down onto the subway tracks. The five mutants froze and perked up immediately, heads swiveling to face her. To April’s surprise, the four boys’ eyes were covered – their color coded bandanas had been twisted around to obscure their vision, forcing them to fumble blindly through the alcove.

“April?”

“It’s April!”

“April!”

Before she had time to react, several pairs of arms wrapped around her waist and April found herself being whisked off of her feet. She’d come to expect this from the boys – although they tolerated the cool sewers and temperatures, their heat-seeking nature called for lots of hugs and physical closeness. However, almost as soon as she had left the ground, April felt herself being hurriedly put back on her feet and stepped away from.

Raph fumbled with his bandana and stuck out his tongue in displeasure as the other boys followed suite. “Ew, April – you’re all cold and wet!”

April laughed and shrugged off her damp jacket to reveal a slightly drier long-sleeved shirt. “Yeah, I got caught in the rain on the way down here. I was hoping I would dry off a bit by the time I made it, but I guess not.”

“You should have let me know that you were coming, April,” Splinter admonished as he joined the small gathering around the human girl. The rat’s ears were tucked against his head in concern as he took the jacket from April and motioned for everyone to follow him back into their home. “If I’d known that you were on the way, I would have met you – the concrete and ladders can get very slippery during the rain, and you could have been hurt.”

April blushed slightly at the correction. He was right – it probably would have been a good idea to call ahead. “Sorry, Splinter. School let us out because of the storm and my mom isn’t expecting me to be home until later, so I figured now would be a good time to hang out.”

“So we all get to hang out the rest of the afternoon?” Leo grabbed onto April’s arm and bounced excitedly, making the girl stumble slightly. Even though three of the four boys were smaller than she was, they still weighed a heck ton. “Best! Day! Ever!”

Splinter reached out and laid a hand on top of the red-eared slider’s head, slowing down his bouncing until the turtle finally landed solidly on two feet and released April’s imprisoned arm. With a small sound of approval, the rat ducked into their home and hung April’s jacket over the humming space heater that had been set up in the boys’ school area. “That’s another reason it would have been a good idea to call ahead. This weather has had me thinking more about the fact that we need to relocate soon, and I had plans to go out.”

Mikey pushed his way past his brothers and pulled himself onto the steps, brow creased in concern. “Wait – like we’re moving?”

“Yes, Orange.” Splinter patted Mikey’s head as he returned to the doorway and looked down at the small crowd. Even though she and Splinter were nearly the same height, watching the way that the boys solemnly listened to their father reminded April that this small creature was roughly thirty years her senior. “We’ve discussed this before – we’re already outgrowing this home, and it is about time we start looking for one that is more prepared for the elements and for housing four rowdy boys. Plus… it would be nice to have room for a bigger TV.”

“And maybe room for me to build stuff?” Donnie’s hopeful voice piped up from where he stood beside April. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet since April had arrived, hanging back from his brothers and still looking frustrated about the game that they had been playing. April looked down at him.

It was only then that she noticed Donnie was still wearing his ever-present backpack – though she guessed that she shouldn’t be too surprised. In the two months that she and the turtles had been friends, April had never seen the purple-clad boy without his backpack on. She’d asked about it before, inquiring as to what he was constantly carrying around with him, but Donnie had always found a way to dodge her questions or change the topic. Whatever was inside it, he clearly was not keen on discussing. Maybe it was full of tools and things to tinker with? That would definitely fit his character, but she imagined that it would have been easier for him to play without the hinderance– surely the material slowed down his movements or rubbed uncomfortably on his shoulders.

“We will see, Purple,” Splinter gave a half nod, and April could see Donnie wilt slightly at his lack of enthusiasm. “As I said, I was planning to go scouting for a new area this afternoon, but I suppose that since we have a guest…”

“Oh, don’t let me stop you!” April turned back to the rat and waved her hands in front of her. “You can go – I really just wanted to get out of the rain. I’m totally cool with hanging out alone with the guys.”

After a few minutes of debating, Splinter finally agreed to leave the five children at home with strict instructions not to wander off or fight – he entrusted a small, recently scavenged hand radio to Mikey and told him to spill the beans if anything went down in his absence. With a few more guidelines about lunch and a promise to be back in time to walk April home, the robed rat was gone.

“So April, have you ever played Bandana Ball?” Raph asked hopefully as picked up the tennis ball they had been playing with and tossed it to her.

“She couldn’t have, Raffle,” Leo leapt into the air and caught the ball before April could even raise her hands. The red eared slider landed gracefully and bowed to his older brother, a smug grin on his face. “Donnie made it up, remember?”

The bespectacled turtle at April’s side shrugged, sticking out his foot to trip Leo as he attempted to waltz away. The blue boy landed on his plastron with a heavy _OOF_ , the ball slipping from his hands and bouncing back up into Donnie’s waiting palm. “Well, I kind of did. It’s basically just Marco Polo mixed with catch and football. I just made up the rules.”

April watched as Leo rolled onto his shell, half expecting him to launch upwards and tackle Donnie, but was surprised when the turtle settled on kicking his brother’s feet out from under him and then darting away. The braniac child stumbled, arms waving as he caught his balance, and then cast a frustrated scowl at his Leo’s retreating form. As if sensing an imminent argument, Mikey chose this moment to seemingly materialize near his purple brother and offered him comforting pat on the shoulder. In the same quick move, he snatched the tennis ball from Donnie’s hands and clambered up onto April’s back.

“Yeah, Donnie came up with the idea. Basically we all blindfold ourselves, and then we have to use ninja skills to figure out who has the ball and get it from them– like in Lou Jitsu’s movie ‘Blinded by Barbarians’. Once you have it, you have to bring the ball to the far side of the tunnel without being stopped. If you get tackled, you immediately lose – but that’s also the most funnest part!”

“Not if you don’t play fairly,” Donnie huffed quietly in frustration, but Mikey didn’t seem to notice as he scrambled back down April’s back and onto the ground.

“We can play a few rounds first so that you can see how it works, but then do you wanna play?”

“Totally!” April shook her head, casting aside curious thoughts about Donnie as determination swelled in her chest. She made a fist and punched it into her other palm. “April O’Neil is ready for action!”

“So is Leo… Nardo!” Leo yelled, spinning his mask around to blind himself. The other boys followed suite – Donnie removing his glasses and sitting them to the side -and all immediately crouching down in anticipation. The sound levels in the alcove dipped for a moment as the four turtles slowly began to circle each other, arms out and palms down as they tensed for movement. It was then that something inside of April told her that she needed to step back – and not a moment too soon.

“Think fast!” Mikey bellowed as he suddenly whipped the dingy tennis ball across the tunnel. Instantly, the lair exploded into chaos. The ball whizzed past April, nearly brushing the top of her head as she leapt back onto the train car’s steps.

“I’ve got it!” Donnie dove forward, arms outstretched as the ball hit the wall inches in front of him and then rocketed back towards the other end of the tunnel where Leo was already waiting. The slider leapt into action, climbing up a confused Raph’s shell and launching himself into the air with hands waving wildly. Unfortunately his timing was off, as he dropped to the ground while the ball fell directly into Raph’s waiting hands.

The snapping turtle let out a gleeful laugh and stumbled forward, feet sweeping the ground in front of him as he scampered towards the goal area. April opened her mouth to cheer Raph on, but an orange blur suddenly zipped forward and crashed against his plastron, sending both turtles sprawling on their shells.

“Gotcha!” Mikey crowed proudly, hands patting the plastron of his brother experimentally before he gave a satisfied nod. “Gotcha, Raphie!”

“You ain’t got nothing,” Raph laughed as he knocked the younger boy off and rolled to his feet. “The ball went that way!”

Sure enough, the ball had rolled several yards away, and was now balanced on top of the train tracks behind their home. April watched in amusement as all four boys stumbled around, bent at the waist and frantically sweeping their hands across the ground in hopes of finding their treasure. A fleeting image of one of the turtles clutching the ball to their chest and hissing warningly for no one to touch their ‘precioussssss’ crossed April’s mind, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

Suddenly Leo was on the move. The blue masked turtle finally found the ball and took off silently towards the tunnel wall – only for Donnie to lock onto his location and throw himself forward chest first.

Leo let out a shocked laugh as he was knocked to the ground and landed heavily on his back. “Whoa – nice tackle, D!”

Donnie snorted dismissively, making April frown. Leo had seemed genuine in his compliment – why was Donnie brushing it off so flippantly? As she continued to watch, the purple masked turtle took off running towards the opposite end of the tunnel. His movements were more calculated than Raph’s had been, as if navigating without his eyes was just a simple problem to fix rather than a handicap. However, unlike Leo’s and Raph’s attempts to move quietly to avoid detection, Donnie move loudly and purposefully – almost daring the others to come and get him.

Mikey was the first to take the bait and chase after his brother, but April could tell that his own movements lacked the wild, reckless enthusiasm he’d had when tackling Raph. The small turtle jogged alongside Donnie, seeming to time his steps, before he finally dropped and latched onto his target’s ankles.

The older boy stumbled forward, arms pinwheeling for the second time that day before he toppled and fell ungracefully onto his plastron. April heard him give a small grunt when his chin hit the ground, and she tensed. Owch – that had to hurt.

Mikey had apparently heard it too, as he immediately sat up and started to reach for his blindfold. “Oops – are you ok, Donnie?”

“Yes!” Donatello pushed himself back onto his knees and groaned in exasperation. Across the alcove, the other two boys had frozen in their spots and were listening intently to the exchange. “You guys have to stop doing that – you have to treat me the same as everyone else!”

“But I wasn’t– ”

“Yes you did – you held back.” Donnie let out another frustrated sound, and then reached out to pull the blindfold back over Mikey’s eyes. “I’m not fragile. Just HIT ME.”

Before Mikey could respond, Donnie was on his feet and tossed the ball into the center of the alcove.

The game was back on. The ball bounced back and forth across the tunnel, sometimes carried by one turtle and other times being chased after by a cartoonish swarm of flailing limbs. This went on for several minutes, to the point that April began to wonder if anyone was going to be able to secure the ball for long enough to get it where it needed to be.

Eventually, Donnie made his move. He snatched the tennis ball as it soared through air and dribbled it on the ground, then began to jog in the direction of the wall. This time was different than his last attempt, though – he moved silently and kept his mouth closed, allowing no sound to give away who exactly had the ball or where it was in space. Even the rustle of his backpack was muffled as Donnie used his free hand to pull the straps tight against his body. April watched as he ran, glancing over his shoulder to track his brothers’ movements.

“I hear it!” Raph called out, pointing in the general direction of Donnie and then surging forward.

April tensed – this didn’t look good.

The smaller boy had almost made it to the far end of the tunnel, when he suddenly planted his feet and turned to face his brother head on. The snapping turtle kept moving, unaware that his target had stopped, and then the two boys collided.

Donnie let out a yelp as he was thrown backward, Raph’s momentum transferring into his frame and catapulting him into the concrete wall behind them. His body hit the brick with a dull thud that echoed through the alcove, and then he slid to the floor in a crumpled ball.

“Oh my gosh – Donnie!” Raph ripped the bandana off of his head and threw it to the floor, hands flying to his mouth in horror. “I’m so sorry – I didn’t mean to -”

Mikey and Leo were on their feet in an instant, quickly tearing their own bandanas off and dashing across the tunnel. “Donnie? Dee? Are you ok?”

April felt a chill run through her body as she pushed herself off of the car steps and ran over to join the boys. Something was off – that had been a hard hit, yes, but the other guys had taken similar hits throughout the game – why was Donnie not moving? She dropped to her knees around the small semi-circle gathered around Donnie and reached out a shaking hand. “Donnie?”

At first glance she wasn’t even sure if he was conscious– curled on his knees in a fetal position and pressing his head to the cold concrete floor. Then she saw the way that his body was shaking, and the white knuckled grip with which he was holding himself. A sharp, strangled sound escaped his throat as he struggled to suck in air.

“Let me see,” Leo reached out and grabbed at the straps of Donnie’s backpack. He tugged at them, attempting to slide them over his brother’s shaking shoulders, but Donnie pulled his arms tighter around himself and gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. Leo sighed, and gently laid a hand on the boy’s neck. “C’mon, dude – we’ve got to check it out.”

Donnie shook his head again, a bit more firmly, but made no attempt to fight as Mikey and Leo worked together to pull the backpack off and lift up the purple hoodie to reveal his shell.

Or at least – what should have been his shell.

Compared to his brothers’ armored plating and thick layers of keratin, Donnie’s back looked almost bare. His shell appeared to be made of an almost leather-like material, hardly thicker than the rest of his skin and seemingly flexible to the touch. A small row of ridges ran down the center, and April gulped at the sight of them – was that his spine pressing through? Oh gosh – where was Splinter when they needed him?

“You’re not bleeding, but there’s a couple of big scrapes and it looks like a bruise is already forming,” Leo finally said after a few seconds of poking and prodding, during which Donnie made only small sounds of discomfort. He rolled the hoodie back down to cover his brother, but left a hand on Donnie’s back. The injured turtle kept his forehead pressed to the ground, shoulders tensed and not looking up at the rest of them. His body continued to tremble, and nearby Raph let out a hiccupping sound.

April cleared her throat nervously. She was beginning to feel that she should do something as the oldest in this situation. “M-maybe we should use the radio and call your dad?”

“No!” Donnie shouted suddenly, causing all four of the others to jump in surprise. The turtle slowly forced himself to his feet, keeping his head down as he twisted his bandana back into place. April couldn’t see his eyes, but the twin wet splotches now on the back of his mask said enough. Before anyone could say anything, he shouldered past the others and ran into their train car, slamming the metal door shut behind him.

Raph stumbled after him, hands outstretched to grab the door handle. “Donnie-”

“NO!”

“I just want to-”

“LEAVE. ME. ALONE!”

There was another crash from within the train car, and then the alcove fell silent.

April slowly turned to face the three remaining turtles. “What was that?”

At this point, Raph looked like he was .03 seconds from bursting into tears. “I didn’t mean to hurt him – I didn’t know he had the ball or was in front of me or I would have stopped – I thought it was Leo –”

Mikey reached up and patted the snapping turtle’s quivering shoulder. “I know, buddy. It’s not your fault.”

“Guys? What –”

“It’s kind of hard to explain,” Leo cut her off, rubbing his neck awkwardly as he searched for the right words. “Donnie was just born with a different kind of shell than the rest of us. He and dad explained it at one point – it’s something to do with our DNA or something? I don’t know the word for it, but basically he isn’t as strong as the rest of us and so he can get hurt easier if we’re wrestling or something. It doesn’t matter most of the time, but he really doesn’t like talking about it.”

Mikey nodded his head emphatically, still patting their hiccupping older brother. “Dad used to strap a towel or something soft to his back when we were little, but then Donnie got really mad about it and just started covering it up.”

“Will he be ok, though?” April nodded her head back towards the train car. The walls were thick enough that they couldn’t hear anything going on within the small home now, and April couldn’t help but feel worried about what the upset turtle was up to. “I’ve never seen him act like that before.”

Leo nodded, but shared a look of concern at their home. “He’s taken worse hits before – I think he’s mostly just embarrassed that you saw him get hurt, too.”

April blinked. She hadn’t considered the fact that her presence could have added to his discomfort. “Oh.”

It was at that moment that the small radio Splinter had left them sputtered to life with a burst of static. Mikey darted across the alcove, giving Raph one last pat before he left, and scooped the device up from where it had been resting. He twisted one of the large dials on the side and frowned as the static increased, then twisted it the opposite direction until Splinter’s tinny voice rang through.

“-lo? Hello? Is this thing wor--ng?”

Mikey nodded, twisting the dial some more and then pressed down the main button. “Hi Dad – yeah, it’s working.”

“Oh, good. I need a bit of help.” There was a slight pause, and the kids could hear Splinter grunting. “Do you remember the small bistro that we gathered at a few weeks ago? The one with the cake?”

“Yeah?”

“Apparently they had a bake sale recently – I currently have several boxes of different baked goods, and I need some assistance carrying it all back home. Could at least two of you come meet me at the tube underneath the store to help? Tell April that she’d better hang back – one of the tunnels is nearly flooded, and I don’t know how well she can swim if necessary.”

“Ok – we’ll be there in a few minutes.” Mikey flicked off the radio and turned back to the others. “I don’t think Donnie’s going to want to go anywhere soon, but maybe some cake will make him feel better?”

“That is pretty good timing.” Leo nodded. “But the tunnels there are pretty deep – it must still be raining a ton. It would probably be a good idea for all of us to go, just in case. Do you mind staying here alone, April?”

April shook her head, even though the thought of essentially being alone this deep in the sewers was a bit unnerving. “I’ll be ok. I guess I can let Donnie know where you guys went in case he comes out and is confused.”

Raph let out a big sniffle, snot bubbling from his nostril as he scrubbed the tears from his cheeks. “If he does come out, tell him I’m really really sorry and didn’t mean to hurt him, ok?”

April nodded and gave the turtle a big hug. “I will – I promise.”

***

Minutes passed after the boys had taken off, leaving April alone in the alcove. She paced nervously, casting frequent glances towards the train car’s door and pondering whether or not she should try to knock. Whenever her younger cousins threw tantrums, their mom would usually give them time to blow off steam before trying to reason with them. But that was with LITTLE kids, and when they had done something wrong. Donnie had been hurt, so should she go make sure that he was ok? Or should she –

April stopped mid step and ran her fingers through her curls. What in the world had she gotten herself into? She didn’t even know where these guys technically came from, let alone how to handle something like biological differences within species. She would have to borrow her mom’s laptop later tonight and try to do some research on soft shell turtles, like she had done when the other guys had mentioned their species – maybe that would help. Until then… April pulled her cell phone from her pocket and glanced at the time.

She imagined that the boys were just now reaching where Splinter was, meaning that it would likely be twenty minutes until they got back – and that was if they didn’t run into any flooded areas or roadblocks. Maybe she should try to talk to Donnie one on one, without the others present. If he was embarrassed to talk about this stuff, maybe it was better to try to do so without an audience – right?

April turned towards the train car and nodded her head. Alright. Game plan. Let’s do this.

She took a deep breath through her nose, attempting to settle her nerves – and then froze. Hold on – why did she smell smoke? She sniffed the air again, turning towards the scent and squinting down the train tracks. The area around their home was relatively well lit, especially in comparison to the rest of the sewers. But several dozen yards down the line, she could see the light flickering brightly – alternating between normal lighting and lighting so bright that it seemed as if the sun had found its way under the streets.

Casting a quick glance at the train car, April shook her head. Ok, maybe she should check this out first – what if it was a fire or something dangerous? She should know in order to try and catch the guys before they got home.

With quick strides, April hurried towards the flickering lights. A loud crackling noise echoed through the tunnel with each pulse of light, getting louder and brighter as she closed the distance between them. She shielded her eyes as she finally rounded a corner, not looking directly at the light but gasping at what she saw.

“Donnie?”

The bright lights immediately cut off as a small form turned to face her. “Oh... Hey, April.”

The girl blinked rapidly, her eyes struggling to adjust to the sudden change in lighting. “I… I didn’t see you leave.”

“I climbed through the window.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

April glanced around the concrete tube that Donnie was holed up inside of. “Can… I come in?”

“I guess.”

April ducked her head as she stepped into the tube. It wasn’t as large as most of the ones she had seen throughout the sewers – only about seven feet deep and the same measurement in diameter. However, despite the lack of square footage, every inch of the floor had been taken advantage of. Neat piles of loose materials were scattered about the tube – pieces of scrap metal, loose wires, random rusted tools… it looked as if hundreds of small devices had been carefully dissected and sorted back into their bare essentials. Even the walls had not been neglected in the organized chaos – hundreds of notebook papers had been taped to the exposed brick and concrete, each filled with a mixture of frantic scribblings and meticulously labeled diagrams. Stacked on the floor beneath the drawings were several piles of neatly stapled pamphlets – owner’s manuals, from the looks of it.

To an outsider, this whole set up looked like something straight out of a mad scientist movie. However, instead of a wild-eyed, crazy-haired genius crouched among the piles of machinery that stood almost as tall as April, there was only… Donnie. He looked even smaller with just a hoodie and no backpack on – closer to Mikey’s size, really. He’d removed his mask at some point, likely to hide any evidence of his emotions, and now looked at April with a blank expression from behind a large pair of goggles.

“Whoa – this place is awesome,” April breathed as she knelt at the makeshift table beside him. “Did you collect all of this stuff yourself?”

The turtle scooted to the side, allowing her to get comfortable before nodding. It was hard to read his expression through the tinted lenses, but April imagined that he was avoiding her eyes. “Yeah. Dad said I could keep any extra gadgets that we gathered, as long as they don’t get in the way. So, I started collecting stuff in here.”

April nodded at the welding torch he clutched in his hands. “And you guys just found that?”

A small smirk tugged at Donnie’s lips and he touched the machine proudly. “Naw – this was here when we moved in. I think that it was left over from when they were originally building the subway tunnels. Dad said I’m technically not allowed to use it until I’m ten, but he never specified that he meant ten YEARS.”

“I guess that makes sense,” April snorted. Ok, there was some of the Donnie sass that she’d come to know. She gestured towards the stack of instructional manuals on the floor. “Wait – so did you just teach yourself how to use it?”

After pulling the goggles over his head and setting them to the side, Donnie leaned back into a resting position and gave a nod. “Uh-huh. It took me a while to figure out how to read German, but once I got the basics I learned the rest through trial and error. After that it was just a matter of getting the acetylene tanks from construction sites.”

Despite his nonchalant manner, April could see his chest swell ever so slightly in pride. She blinked, looking around the room again. Maybe she hadn’t been too far off with that mad scientist comparison.

“Holy cow, Donnie – that’s amazing! I’m sure your dad is really proud.”

Donnie’s expression immediately fell, twisting into something partially angry and partially sad as he drew his knees to his chest. “Dad doesn’t really know about or understand this kind of stuff.” His voice dropped to almost a whisper. “I think he wishes I was normal like the other guys.”

“Normal?” April pulled her head back at the word, brow creasing. “Donnie, you’re not NOT normal.”

The turtle cocked an eyebrow, giving her an incredulous expression and gesturing at his body. His whole body had tensed now. “Then how do you explain… this situation?”

April cringed internally. “Ok, you’re right in that you guys aren’t… typical –”

“April, nothing about us is ‘typical’!” Donnie interjected, his voice pitching as he leapt to his feet and waved his arms in front of him. “That’s why we have to live in the sewers and can’t go out like normal people.”

April’s eyes widened and she gaped helplessly. How was she supposed to respond to that? Before she could think of anything, Donnie continued on.

“We’re weird and not normal and our Dad isn’t even our real, biological dad. But he won’t even talk to us about it – he always just avoids answering questions or puts on a movie or something whenever I try to ask him.” The turtle brought his hands to his forehead, physically shaking it in frustration and then wrapping his arms around himself. “And if that’s not enough, out of all four of us, I’m the weirdest one. All of the other guys are normal and can do regular stuff, but whenever I try to do fun things I always get hurt. And then Dad will just… just look at me like I’m made out of glass or something. Like I’m weird and he doesn’t know what to do to fix it and…” Donnie took a shuddering breath, and then slumped to the floor with his head in his hands. “I know he loves us, but…. Sometimes I think that he wishes he didn’t have to be my dad.”

The small tube fell silent as both kids sat and processed the weight of his words. Finally, Donnie raised his head and used the heel of his hand to scrub at his eyes. “I’m sorry – I shouldn’t have said all of that.”

“No!” April exclaimed, catching the turtle off guard. She took a second, reverting to a normal voice, and then reached out to take Donnie’s hand in her own. “My mom says to never apologize for feeling hurt – that’s … that’s just … normal.”

Donnie let out a little huff of amusement, but his brown eyes focused on their now intertwined hands. He moved his thumb lightly over her knuckle and adjusted his own fingers so that they could fit together better. “Yeah, but… I don’t know.”

The turtle fell silent again, lost in thought but still clutching her hand like it was a life support. April squeezed it lightly to get his attention. “If it helps any, I don’t think that you or your family are weird – and even if I did, what’s so wrong with being weird? You guys are all special and unique in your own way, and I don’t think that anyone was made incorrectly or by accident. Everyone is made exactly how they were supposed to be, and that includes any differences that they have to struggle with.”

“And about your dad,” April hesitated, thinking through her words before she spoke. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean to treat you differently – I think he just wants to protect you, you know? Because I can already tell you, based on the letters he wrote about you guys – he loves you all so much. He’s just not the kind of person to show it, I guess.”

Donnie squeezed her fingers tighter and used their joint hands to wipe at his face. “I wish he was.”

“What about when you were little? Mikey said that he used to wrap a towel around you to make sure that you didn’t get hurt, right?” He nodded. “That’s because he loved you, and wanted to protect you!”

“It was still embarrassing.”

“Yeah, but every parent is embarrassing sometimes – I think that’s part of their job or something.”

“Really?”

“Oh my gosh, yes.” April rolled her eyes as she recalled a distant memory. “Like when I was learning to ride my bike. My mom was really paranoid that I would crash or get hurt, so she made me wear every kind of safety gear she could find – knee pads, elbow pads, shin guards, a helmet, you know. And then for a while she even made me stuff a pillow under my shirt! It was super embarrassing, and the other kids at the park made fun of me for weeks.”

“Did you tell her that you didn’t want to wear it?”

“Of course! I remember arguing with her and saying that she was being way too overprotective, but she refused to let me practice riding until I had all of that stuff on. But then one day while we were out practicing at the park, a kid fell off of their bike and broke their whole arm.” April shuddered at the thought. “I remember seeing it happen and waiting for the ambulance to come get them – it was awful. But then I was really glad that my mom made me wear all of that junk. Sure, it seemed dumb at the time, but she was making me wear it while I was learning so that I would be safe whenever I fell. And now that I’m older, I still make sure to wear my helmet.”

Donnie hummed softly. “That’s true… but I’m still not going to wear a pillow or whatever.”

“What if you didn’t have to?”

“What?”

“I mean, what if you had something else to protect your shell? Something that YOU liked and approved of, but that still kept you safe?”

“That’s actually kind of what I was working on,” Donnie took a deep breath and finally released April’s hand in order to reach out for the object he’d been welding. “It’s kind of like a battle shell – something I can wear to protect my real shell when we’re out playing and stuff. See?”

Donnie moved the metallic object to his lap and then pulled at the hem of his hoodie. He glanced at April and gave an awkward smile, then tugged the clothing over his head. April winced when she caught sight of his shell – like Leo had hypothesized, a deep purple bruise was already forming and taking up a large portion of his back.

“Oh, owch.”

“I’ll be ok,” Donnie turned so that his back was fully facing April and then craned his head to look over his shoulder at her. “Can you help me get this on?”

Together the two maneuvered the metal into place. It fit over Donnie’s shoulders similar to the way that his backpack had, but this invention was much more intimidating and solid looking. The purple metal curved perfectly over his shell, sealing it in and totally hiding it from view. Four metal straps extended from the sides of the device, which Donnie carefully latched around his shoulders and waist. After a moment of adjusting, the turtle turned to face April and gave her a nervous smile. “What do you think?”

“Donnie, you look awesome!” April clapped her hands together and squealed, causing the boy to blush. Already, Donnie looked like he was standing taller. His usually hunched shoulders curled back in pride, and the turtle looked like he was ready to charge into battle – or at least into a game of Bandana Ball.

“It’s not finished yet,” he admitted, rotating his shoulders and giving a small wince. “I’ll probably have to add some sort of padding to keep it from chafing, and the next version will definitely need to be made out of a lighter material. But… it’s definitely better than a pillow.”

April gave a small laugh. “I bet – and you should totally show this to the others. I’m sure they’d all be super impressed, and would probably want to help you make them!”

“You think so?” Donnie looked nervous, but he couldn’t hide the hopeful grin that was pulling at his lips. “You don’t think they’ll think it’s weird?”

“Are you kidding me? Donnie, look at all of this stuff,” April gestured towards the small inventions scattered around the room, the drawings on the wall, and then back to the battle shell. “You’re only eight years old, and you’ve designed all of this stuff without any teaching or guidance. You saw a problem and innovated to overcome it. Heck, if the rest of the family isn’t impressed, I don’t know what will impress them.” She reached out for his hands again. “Donnie, you and your brothers are amazing.”

The turtle froze, lip trembling. For a moment April wondered if she had said something wrong, and then the boy threw himself at April. She stumbled backwards, suddenly aware of the extra weight now on Donnie’s back, but then righted herself before the two tumbled onto the floor. Donnie locked his arms around April’s neck and buried his face into her shoulder.

“Thank you, April. For everything.”

April smiled and hugged him back, her eyes closing as she placed a small kiss atop Donnie’s head. “You’re welcome.”


End file.
